Obama Warns of Getting 'Clobbered'

Daniel Halper

March 21, 2014 7:41 AM

President Barack Obama warned yesterday at a private home in Miami that Democrats "get clobbered" in midterm elections.

"[T]he problem is not that the American people disagree with us on the issues. The challenge is, is that our politics in Washington have become so toxic that people just lose faith and finally they just say, you know what, I’m not interested, I’m not going to bother, I’m not going to vote," Obama told donors.

"And that’s especially true during the midterms. During presidential elections, young people vote, women are more likely to vote, blacks, Hispanics more likely to vote. And suddenly a more representative cross-section of America gets out there and we do pretty well in presidential elections. But in midterms we get clobbered -- either because we don’t think it’s important or we’ve become so discouraged about what’s happening in Washington that we think it’s not worth our while."

Obama told the donors that "we need" Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. "We need Nancy Pelosi as speaker because folks like Nana over there, cleaning houses, may need her help and she’s going to look out for her. We need Harry Reid staying as Democratic Leader in the Senate because there are kids just like Elijah but who aren’t as lucky to have parents with the resources that Alonzo and Tracy have."